Over the last month, regulators with the Trump administration sent a loud message to companies subject to U.S. jurisdiction: Enforcement of laws governing international activities is alive and well and the laws will continue to be enforced with vigor.

On May 31, 2018, the United States Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation will hold a hearing in Chicago to consider whether the pending class actions should be consolidated, and if consolidated, where they should be litigated—in Chicago or New York federal court.

Several important changes to Bayh-Dole Act implementing regulations took effect on May 14, 2018, that will apply to funding agreements executed after that date and may apply to existing funding agreements modified after that date.

Ultimately, becoming annoyed with a technically improper “rule” is a losing strategy for employers because doing so will not change the landscape. Focusing instead on thinking, “If I can show it, I must show it,” regardless of the scale of the employee issue is a better and more proactive strategy to insulate against bad jury outcomes and deter litigation.

In the past few years, the IRS has changed its guidance on whether “management contracts” result in private business use for purposes of the restrictions on use of property financed with tax-exempt bonds. This update describes the new guidance and responds to questions that have arisen in their implementation.

This white paper is part of the USC-Brookings Schaeffer Initiative for Health Policy, which is a partnership between the Center for Health Policy at Brookings and the USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics.